FLIGHT International, 30 July 1977 317
Turbo Mentor test accident
A BEECHCRAFT T-34C Turbo Mentor
engaged in company test-flying
crashed on July 35, killing the pilot,
Bob Stone. The aircraft was in a high
speed dive as part of trials to estab
lish the extreme aerodynamic limits
of the T-34C. The drag chute installed
on the aircraft was found to be de
ployed at the accident site, but pend
ing further investigations Beech is un
able to say whether premature de
ployment caused the accident.
According to Beech, a flutter con
dition which caused an accident to a
T-54C in January this year has now
been eliminated. The company says
that the flutter test programme estab
lished that the T-34C exceeds by more
than 50 per cent the normal flight
envelope required for US Navy
student training. Beech says that it is
inconceivable that a student pilot
could inadvertently take the aircraft
into the upper flight regimes being
tested last week.
"Kiev" mounts
retractable radar
A RECENT article in the Proceedings
of the United States Naval Institute
has confirmed the existence of a radar
on a retractable mounting at the bows
of the Russian aircraft carrier Kiev.
Nato has allocated the unsubtle re
porting name of Trap Door to this
installation, which was reported ex
clusively by Flight last winter (Decem
ber 18, page 1769).
Trap Door is used to control SS-N-
12 surface-to-surface missiles in the
early stages of flight. Mid-course
guidance commands are transmitted
to the missiles by Kiev's Ka-25 Hor
mone A helicopters. There are no
photographs so far of the new radar
in the raised position. All published
pictures show only the rectangular
hatch cover which gives the radar its
reporting name. Drawings in the US
publication suggest that this cover is
in two sections, one of which moves
forward towards the bows and the
other rearward to uncover the radar
mounting.
Argentinians propose new
trainer
A TURBOPROP aircraft to replace
Beech T-34A primary trainers in the
Argentinian Air Force is being pro
posed by FMA, the manufacturer of
the Pucara light attack aircraft.
Development go-ahead may be given
by the end of the year, with a first
flight possible in 1979 and production
in the early 1980s.
A model of the trainer, designated
IA.62, was on display at Paris and
showed off its lineage from the
Pucara. Like the attack aircraft, it is
powered by a Turbomeca Astazou
turboprop, in this case a 590 h.p.
XIVR. The idea is clearly to provide
a combination primary/basic trainer
in the mould of the T-34C Turbo
Mentor or Pilatus PC-7 Turbo-Trainer,
: ;
. • • . •
" • •• ••
with the two crew in tandem and a
retractable tricycle undercarriage.
Basic details of the proposed IA.62
are as follows:
Empty weight 1,300kg Max weight clean
1,950kg Max weight with stores 2,600kg
Cruise speed 300km/hr Max speed at 10,000ft
360km/hr Max dive speed 600km/hr Min speed
110km/hr (at max weight) T/O to 50ft, max
weight, s.i. 550m Landing from 50ft, max
weight, s.l. 500m Range 1,200km Endurance
5hr Ceiling, clean 26,000ft Load factor, clean,
aerobatic 4-6, —3 Load factor, max weight
+ 4, -2
For basic weapon training, the
IA.62 would have two 7-62mm
machine-guns in the wings and two
underwing hardpoints for light bombs
or other stores. Basic avionics would
include intercom, multi-channel VHF,
ADF and VOR/ILS.
TV sight tested in F-14s
THE US Navy is testing a version of
the Northrop Tiseo closed-circuit tele
vision sight, for identification of
enemy aircraft, on four Grumman
F-14 Tomcats. Tiseo is already opera
tional on USAF F-4Es, has been
delivered to Iran and Turkey, and is
due to be fitted to Greek F-4s. The
Navy version, known as TVSU (Tele
vision Sight Unit), is identical in per
formance but slightly different in
configuration. In spite of being
packaged in two instead of four boxes,
TVSU weighs the same as Tiseo at
about 941b.
According to Northrop, the F-14 is
already wired to accept the system,
which has completed all laboratory,
USN technical and carrier-suitability
tests. The four units are installed on
aircraft taking part in Air Intercept
Missile Evaluation/Air Combat
Evaluation (Aimval/Aceval) exer
cises at Nellis AFB, Nevada.
Though air-drop trials of the Marconi Space
and Defence Systems lightweight air-launched
torpedo have begun (see Defence last week),
British Opposition defence spokesman Sir Ian
Cilmour confirms that the Government is con
sidering cancellation of the project
The TVSU and the Tomcat's
AWG-9 /Phoenix radar and fire-
control system are slaved to one
another. The gimballed telescope /
television system is gyro-stabilised
and, like Tiseo, has two fields of view
to allow visual identification of hostile
aircraft up to 10 miles distant. Images
are displayed in both cockpits.
During the Aimval trials the TVSU
has been used with AIM-7F Sparrows
to identify and electronically "kill"
F-5E aggressor aircraft. The system
was used for identification 171 times
in 185 encounters.
Sikorsky pushes on with
advanced helicopter
SIKORSKY'S Rotor Systems Research
Aircraft (RSRA) has now been fitted
with two fixed wings as well as two
General Electric TF34 engines to pro
vide extra forward thrust. The aircraft
has hovered at the company's Strat
ford plant (see World News) but is
now to be flown without the wings to
Langley, Va, for full wingborne flight
trials. The RSRA can normally hover
at a maximum 20,5001b gross weight.
The engines and wings push gross
weight up to 28,0001b, at which the
aircraft has to make a running take
off. There is no runway at Stratford,
hence the need to move to Langley.
Meanwhile, Sikorsky has received a
contract to take the Advancing Blade
Concept (ABC) helicopter into the
true high-speed regime, the target
being 300kt. As a pure helicopter it
reached 160kt. Two Pratt & Whitney
J60 turbojets are now being added for
extra forward thrust.